[sphinxvc]

Quote:

The Lyr is a beast but it is not a balanced amp. The Audio-GD NFB-10WM is calling out to me even though I'm loving my setup at the moment. It uses dual WM8741 for the DAC and also has a normal 1/4" socket for unbalanced headphones. I'm anxiously waiting for the reviews to pop up.

 
I checked it out - I can't find anything like it out there at the price.  That said, I'm hoping you bite!  I'm waiting for your review to pop up.
 

 

[prtuc2]

First off I am not a good writer, so there will be a lot of mistakes ask me if you are confused.  Secondly, I am not familiar with the bass,treble and mid-range terms that audiophile referring to so I will use non-audiophile term in this review.
 
Setup
Amp: Fiio E9
DAC: Fiio E7
Headphone: Sennheiser HD650
Media Player: KM Player
 
High audio files (FLAC, APE) vs. (128kbps - 320kbps)
One of the most distinguish different among the file type is the instrument on the high quality file is much more revealing as you can feel the music beating against your ears, where the lower quality file for the first time I noticed a separation of music.  What I meant by separation of music is that in my previous headphone (ATH-A700) I never noticed my left ear side only produced instrument sound and the right ear side produced the vocal.  Vocal is on one side where the instrument is at the other side is quite an experience for me. 
 
Even though with high end audio file the instrumental music can be muddy (as it can't hear the crispy instrumental sound) I suspect required burn in time, so I will see if this is the issue. 
 
The vocal on high audio files it sounds as if the singer was singing next to you, I think that is what audiophile call distant but I am not sure so I use my own wording.  For low quality audio file this headphone will show you the imperfection on the recording, static or cracking sound during the music with my previous headphone never occur to me.  This headphone really shine with high audio files, but low audio file you can still hear something you never heard before so still is a great experience if you have low quality audio files type.
 
Often HD650 owner classified this headphone as dark, muddy, laid-back after listening to the headphone myself I understand what it meant, the headphone won't bring excitement to existence music but to me it brings some music to live making experience unique in a sense you never heard before.  As muddy and dark I can hear it, but I won't jump to conclusion yet since I want it to be burn in before making statement like that.
 
As for genre of music that I used in my impression there are wide varieties I will generalized:
Mostly 70-90s chinese music (wong faye, jacky cheung, leslie cheung, alan tam, sam hui, teresa teng, and etc)
Secondly 70-90s english music (ABBA-dancing queens, Bee Gees-stayin Alive, Tom Jones-She's a lady, and etc)
Korean music mostly after 2000, with the exception of I believed back in 1994 I think
Japanese music: my collection mostly from anime start from 70s-present
Classical Music just about everyone: Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, and etc.  Vivaldi Spring is one of my favorite.
I listen to just about any other types of music exception to loud music, often hurts my ears.
 
Thanks for reading.

 

[SP Wild]

Quote:

The vocal on high audio files it sounds as if the singer was singing next to you, I think that is what audiophile call distant but I am not sure so I use my own wording.  For low quality audio file this headphone will show you the imperfection on the recording, static or cracking sound during the music with my previous headphone never occur to me.  This headphone really shine with high audio files, but low audio file you can still hear something you never heard before so still is a great experience if you have low quality audio files type.
 

 
I agree, the first time I ever donned on a pair of HD650s I was startled at the realism presented in the midrange.  Never before did I associate hi-fi with the sonic signature of actually jamming in a band.  Having come from speakers, I was originally taken in by the clarity, spaciousness and crispness of speakers that I could afford, which happened to be bookshelf speakers, mated with a Cambridge CD4 CD player and a Rotel amplifier and I spent a large portion of my initial foray into hi-fi listening and enjoying this humble setup.  Even though I had a subwoofer, dialling in more than a slight subbass boost made things sound less real, due to the muddying effect of most subwoofers on the midrange.
 
It took all but three seconds of music playing on the HD650s when it all clicked into place...the signature stunned me and I immediately found out what "Hi-Fi" meant to me.  It wasn't in the pursuit of comparisons between "hi-fi" components and listening for "clarity and "crispness", although very satisfying...none gave me the satisfaction of hearing things through the HD650s portrayal of hi-fi, which sounded to me, very much like real life sounds.  Going back to my sub sat combo, I tried again to dial in the signature to match the HD650, although I succeeded the resultant sound was very unsatisfactory.  I have since heard full range speakers well in excess of 10K and the bass response still could not match these humble cans (although mid and treble was definitely more resolute), with room resonance and the physics of moving large speakers showed its limitations.
 
Of course this tale all relates to what I believe is an almost perfect match between my individual HRTF and the HD650s, I do believe that everyone hears differently and those that hear the HD650 as muffled may well have different frequency response sensitivities and does not invalidate their opinions and perceptions.

 

[prtuc2]

Agreed with you there is no such thing as headphone is better than other, there is only headphone that is more suitable for your taste than one of other. 

 

[prtuc2]

I happen to change the low gain to high gain on my E9 amp my headphone soundstage clearly wider and the dark sound is gone, anyone else with the E9 from low to high gain have this experience just want to have some confirmation. 

 

[disastermouse]

Quote:

I happen to change the low gain to high gain on my E9 amp my headphone soundstage clearly wider and the dark sound is gone, anyone else with the E9 from low to high gain have this experience just want to have some confirmation. 

Yep.  Switch does the same for me.  Cool to know I may not be crazy for thinking I hear the difference in such a pronounced way.

 

[wilson1507]

I just ordered these from headroom after reading about them here for quite a while. I called and they said the price is $349 right now with the coupon code: HD650. I forgot to enter the code, but hopefully they will give me the discounted price. I am going to be ordering the Fiio E9 tomorrow to go along with the E7. I just don't want to have to wait for them to get here now, ha.

 

[El Nuevo1]

anyone heard the 650s with the hifiman EF2 hybrid amp? I'm considering this for the moment! thx!

 

[disastermouse]

Quote:

I just ordered these from headroom after reading about them here for quite a while. I called and they said the price is $349 right now with the coupon code: HD650. I forgot to enter the code, but hopefully they will give me the discounted price. I am going to be ordering the Fiio E9 tomorrow to go along with the E7. I just don't want to have to wait for them to get here now, ha.

I think you'll be impressed!  I got mine open-box refurb for $320 - so you got a pretty good price!  I had E7/E9 until about a week ago when I got the HRT Music Streamer II+.

 

[steveotron]

Called Sonic Sense and they are selling it for $338.95, which is the same price as their auction on eBay. I called Music123 to see if they'd do a price match, and they brought it down to $322.85 (110% match, but it used to be 123%). I called Sennheiser and they said Music123 wasn't an authorized dealer, however, so I'd rather spend the extra $16 buying it from Sonic Sense for the 2 year warranty. I'm so close to pulling the trigger. I just need to decide which DAC/AMP to get (toss-up between Mini-I, NuForce HD, or NuForce HDP). I'm a little worried about the comfort, though. I had the 555s for a week or two and the clamp was a bit much, but I'm hoping it was just because I hadn't given them enough time to stretch out. If they still hurt like a mother, I guess I'm going for the D2000s and possibly an AKG 701 to pair instead.

 

[prtuc2]

I let it clamp against my amp with a glass case to loosen the clamp a bit more, after the 2nd day the clamp effect is less noticeable is still there.  My head is very sensitive when it comes to comfort even the ATH-A700 is a bit distracting on my ears but they do feel more comfortable than the HD650 for now.  Some people bend the extend steel part and it works great haven't try it on mine.

 

[sphinxvc]

I called Sonic Sense and mentioned that I was referred by (so & so), and they gave me the $321.20 shipped.  

  Don't know.

 

[steveotron]

How long ago was this? Their price was a little cheaper a couple of weeks ago, but they did raise their prices a little bit since then. If this was fairly recent, I don't know if you'd be willing to PM me and possibly be a referral for me, but it would be appreciated.
 
And prtuc2, I had the same problem with the AD700. They felt real uncomfortable on my ears and the driver was also touching my ear in a way that started to hurt, and I had to return them. I have a feeling that the D2000s might be the best for me in terms of comfort if they don't clamp too hard and if the padding is thick enough to avoid direct contact with a driver. I'm guessing I'd have a hard time with the bumps on the AKGs, but I've heard that the padding and cups are very deep, which definitely sounds good. They don't sound like they had the ideal sound signature for the majority of the music I listen to, but they'd be great to use for the jazz and classical stuff that I have.

 

[sphinxvc]

I ordered Tuesday of last week.  They shipped Wednesday.  Got them Monday afternoon.  I'll PM you.
 
The HD650s are very comfortable on my head, sure they clamp a bit but it hasn't hurt yet, and I quite like the taut fit.  

---

I got them before I left for work yesterday so I left them burning and was able to take a proper listen in the AM.  I don't have an opinion on burn-in but it cannot hurt so if the sound will eventually change for the better, I'll be even more satisfied than I am now.  But as my first purchase of full-size cans, these are exactly what I was looking for.  Here are some random thoughts:
 
I can tell they have a massive potential held back only by the Audio GD Fun.  I'm in love with how "safe" the sound is.  It's so involving, as counter-intuitive as that sounds (I'll leave it at that for now).  The way they're not beating your head with either treble, or bass or mids is phenomenal.  I'm hearing a lot of clarity in the treble, it may be a weeee bit rolled off but it's perfect for my tastes, all I ask from treble is clarity, detail and not forwardness.  Which artist do you know that does cymbals best?  Exactly.  What about a vocalist?  Easy.  I find the mids and lows fully satisfying clarity wise.  The only thing I want at times is more fullness.  The good thing about the Fun is that that's a matter of switching op-amps.  I'm now using the neutral op-amp they call the "earth" module.  I also have the "moon" module which is supposed to be more tube-like and I think that may solve the fullness issue.  If it wasn't for rock music, I'd be 100% satisfied with my set-up.  But because of how congested some heavy rock passages can seem (I'm looking at you Black Sabbath), I'm playing with the idea of getting a good dac, which I assume would add better separation amongst other things.  The soundstage is lovely.

 

[hardtarget666]

I've had the HD650's for a good few months now and they have scaled phenomenally well with my recently acquired NFB-10ES. The more I listen to them, the more I fall in love with them. For anyone who is interested, I've given my initial impressions of the setup here:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/519166/audio-gd-nfb-10/300#post_7178771